


Redemption

by Ikol



Series: Brothers [2]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Accident, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, aftermath of accident
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-04-06 06:26:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4211526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikol/pseuds/Ikol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The brothers made a trip to see the woman who survived the car crash seven years ago. They never had the chance, till now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Redemption

**Author's Note:**

> You can read “Brothers” first, but if not, I think you’ll still understand what’s going on in this story  Though I’d be happy if you read the first installment!

At first, they made a stop so that Loki could get out of the car and retch, heaping nothing but bile and air from his guts.

After one long minute, Thor stepped out and walked round to bend over his brother, putting one hand on the shaking back, sliding to the dark hair and gave him comforting strokes.  
Loki was on his hands and knees, and then it stopped.

Five minutes later, the younger man recovered, though with a puffy reddened face and watery eyes, ashen face, he managed to rise and climbed back into the jeep.

The green Jaguar reincarnated as the pile of cash in a suitcase in the back of their car, which they were carrying along Highway 58 towards a town they’ve never visited before.

Loki was a wreck during the past few days. They fought twice when Loki suggested they called it off. Let the sleeping dog lie, he said, and Thor called it bullshit.

“It wasn’t my plan, Loki. And you’ve dragged me into this, so finish it.” Thor raised a finger to his brother’s face.

They made it through Thor’s breakup. They made it through Thanos, who only let Loki go because maybe Loki was getting too old. Two months later, they threw three luggage into the trunk—one of Thor’s and two of Loki’s. 

They headed west. The woman had moved across states a few years after the accident. Loki had been keeping track of her using social networks and some investigation, and secured her address.

(Thor remembered lifting an eyebrow, worrying for the woman’s privacy and safety, and Loki scoffed him off).

They would reach the destination before nightfall, because Thor preferred not to drive long distance at night. And Loki was too much anxious to be focused on the road in the dark. 

They found a motel, paid for a room, and Thor watched Loki swallowed two Tylenols down before hitting the pillow.

He couldn’t sleep. So he dimmed the light next to the bed and went to get some fresh air.

Looking up at the stars, he silently asked his parents if they were doing the sane thing. Would they agree if they had been here? Would they be proud?

Footsteps brought him back from his reverie. He knew who it was without turning.

A cool hand on his shoulder. “Come to bed. I can’t sleep…”

They laid face to face in the bed, Loki snuggled close and pressed his face against Thor’s chest, dampening the t-shirt with his tears and snots, and the only thing Thor could do was murmuring that everything would be all right.

But he was so afraid. Scared. Scared of the little woman he had caused much pain. Pain might be an understatement, because he remembered sitting there in the court room while the judge read his sentence. He remembered seeing her parents there, and how heartbroken they had looked, and they spared him a glance once before the mother snatched her eyes away and pressed into her husband’s shoulder to sob.

Thor had been scared and he was scared again, now. 

So he tightened his arms around Loki. Luckily, tiredness from driving inter-state finally helped sink him into a dreamless sleep.

+

It was a picture perfect of a cozy, single-floor house with a verdant shrubs and lawn. They parked across the road and Loki said, “You’re sure we can go through with this?…I mean…I mean. Should we?”

“Yeah, you’re afraid we’d ruin her peaceful life.”

“As if we hadn’t already done that…..” His face suddenly twisted into a pained expression and even Thor jumped when Loki’s fist hit the headboard. “It ate me up.”  
Thor knew where this was going, but he needed to hear Loki say it. “What is it?”

“It never went away. You in jail. She in the coma. And—and I was so scared.” Loki looked at him. “You must have thought I was a black-hearted bastard, didn’t you?”

Thor placed his hand over Loki’s head, sliding down to cup his neck. “Let’s do it. Together.”

That brought a sad smile to the pale face, but at least it gave him hope.

+

Thor pressed the buzz. He could feel the light trembles from Loki next to him, so he leaned in a bit closer to his brother to give him some warmth.

They heard a voice from inside the house. “One sec!” They heard two sets of steps—one lighter like a child running, and another heavy set.

When the door swung open, what they saw rooted them to the spot.

The woman stood with a small kid, a few years old, clinging to her leg. The real leg. Their eyes darted and fixed on the prosthetic one. It was summer, and her flowing flower-printed skirt danced over the artificial skin like a butterfly.

They felt cold as if being dumped into the Arctic Ocean. Loki’s hand flew to cover his mouth from crying out loud. For a moment, the woman wore a quizzical look on her face, then the muscles on her face relaxed.

“Oh…Oh, I know you two…..”

It took all the strength in Thor’s body not to run, and to grab and hold Loki so he himself wouldn’t collapse. 

+

Seven years ago, it would be unimaginable that they would be sitting across from the woman who had suffered from the car crash. They knew she was in a coma, then an induced coma, but here she was…alive and breathing. 

They both didn’t know what to say, how to start, and it looked as if Loki was about to bolt to the door. His hands were visibly shaking and Thor thought he even saw the glimpse of worry in the woman’s dark eyes as she put a cup of tea for him.

Thor would love very much to have a pure Scotch. Or Vodka. But he accepted the cup with a quiet thanks.

“So, how did you find me?” She asked. She even smiled at Thor once she realized Loki wasn’t going to answer her since he was fidgeting and they both saw how he was clawing at his own hands.

“We looked you up.” Thor answered.

“It was the biggest surprise.” She turned to Loki. “Are you all right there?”

It was then that Loki blurted out. “I’m sorry.” One tear slipped from his pale eye. “I’m…sorry.”

It was that, and his hand shot up to wipe it away. Thor knew if they were alone, Loki would start weeping in earnest, like that one time after Thor had moved in to live at Loki’s apartment, then had a long talk about what happened through all the years they had been apart. 

Thor stole another glance at the prosthetic and said. “We never paid you a visit because we couldn’t. After I got out of jail, it was a bit hard. I didn’t think of this, not until Loki told me that he wanted to see you and so here we are.” Thor said. “I hope we’re not bringing you any bad feelings…”

The woman looked at him with a strange understanding in her eyes. “There’s much to talk about. Why don’t you tell me about it first?” She also turned to Loki. “And I will tell you how I’ve been.”

And so they talked. They talked till the sky turned crimson as the sun went down. The conversation got a few halts when the girl ran in to check on her mama and settled down next to her, laying asleep on the couch.

First, Thor told her about his story in jail. It was nothing graphic, because he didn’t want to repeat the memory again. He was grateful that they listened patiently, and when it was Loki’s turn, he had to reach and took the shaking hand in his, giving him occasional squeeze so Loki could keep talking instead of breaking down and crying again.  
When Loki finished his short tale, the woman let out a long sigh.

“You know….for the first few months I kept asking why this had happened to me. Did I do something wrong to deserve this? I felt like my life was over, laying semi paralyzed and with my leg gone. I wanted to die and thought I should have died instead of this.”

Loki squeezed his eyes shut and Thor swallowed a hard lump.

“But….but then one night at the dining table…my mom said out of the blue, ‘Do you know that the boy who hit you didn’t have his parents with him. I heard they recently passed prior to the accident.’

It took me by surprise. Why suddenly would my mom bring up the person who had hurt me. I remembered being slightly angry and annoyed. 

She went on, and I quote, ‘His parent died. He was looking after his baby brother. Now he’s in jail and his brother was sent to social workers. I can’t help but wonder sometimes  
what happened to them.’

And I nearly shouted at her, ‘Damn them! Damn them both! Why would you care about them anyway!?’”

The woman paused and took a deep breath as if those words hurt her. She stared at both of them in the eyes. “I really hated you two back then. Even you.” she said to Loki. “You weren’t driving, but I blamed everyone in that car.”

Loki nodded, his lips thinned and trembling.

“But…then, there were so much love and support.” The woman continued. “It was the first time in my life that I realized how much my family loved me. I was getting the best treatment and people I didn’t know from all over the country were sending me emails after they’d read my blog. And then the scientists were putting a new prosthetic into the test. Soon I will have the leg that moves when I order it to move by thinking! It’s as closest to the real thing. So, when I started working with the univ lab, I met my husband and we have this beautiful child. I guess it was then I started thinking like a parent, and one day I remembered that your five years sentence was about to be over.

I couldn’t be such crazy to say what happened had been a blessing. But I can say that despite my loss, I have gained so much and learned to forgive.”

Thor closed his eyes and felt tears well up behind his eyelids. When he opened them again, the woman gave them a sad smile. 

“I asked myself once, ‘What happened to those two boys. What were they doing now? Have they met again?”

Next to Thor, Loki silently cried, but he was no longer shaking. 

She said, “I’ve lost my leg, and your family was torn apart. After five years, what I kept asking myself wasn’t why it had happened to me that night, but why it happened to us.  
And…and now here you are. I have my answer now. So…thank you for coming to see me.”

Loki broke down into a wrenching sob right there and then. The woman rose to her feet and walked up to where he sat.

“Stop beating yourself over this.” She looked at Thor. “Especially you. You’ve paid for what you’ve done, and I’m sure you –we all—have all the lessons that were to be learned. I’m doing fine now, and I hope you two will be—or try to be-- the same.”

“We don’t deserve this.” Loki looked up and said through his tears. “This much forgiveness and kindness...” 

The woman shook her head. “You do.” She smiled. “Believe me that you do.”

+

The gift giving part was a bit clumsy after. Loki was usually smooth, but today Thor forgave him for such stutters when he lifted and thrust the suitcase to the woman.

There was a brief ‘please’, and ‘no, I can’t’ bout after that. Loki insisted and the woman kept saying that she had already been paid and she couldn’t take anything more from them. Loki tried to push the suitcase to her. “Please, keep it, if not for yourself, then for your daughter. Please.”

It was the urge that worked, because finally she accepted. Loki also offered an explanation. “I couldn’t write you a check because I’m not sure if I’d get your name right, and this is what I’ve been saving up to give to you. I know it’s not covering up for all you’ve lost, but I hope it’d be enough to give yourself a bit more comfort.” 

She gave him a hug, and he embraced her in return, then it was Thor’s turn. She said, “Thank you.”

The parting was nothing emotional. She and her daughter who woke up walked them to the door, and she waved as they looked back to the house before the door closed.

They drove silently back to the same motel they stayed the previous night. Clothed, with arms legs tangled in an embrace, they slowly let the stiffness and years of regrets go away from their limps. 

“I’m glad we did this.” Thor said, one hand in Loki’s hair, another caressing his back. He felt the leaner body relax against him. “Thank you.” Thor mumbled against the top of Loki’s head.

In the darkness, Loki whispered against Thor’s lips that he loved him. 

And Thor told him the same.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again. As NoirePersephona has mentioned about more in this verse, I came up with this. And while I'm worried about so many things, from the technicality of writing and the penalty, I hope this is still a good read for those of you who gave it a try! As unsure as I was, I decided to publish this. If you spot any mistakes, let me know. Thank you for reading!
> 
> And oh yes, there is another installment in this verse, a lighter one and possibly the last. Stay tuned.


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